A Gloating Chris Matthews: 'Only' Christie Could Have Beaten Hillary in 2016

A gloating Chris Matthews on Tuesday appeared on The View and labeled the wounded Chris Christie as the "only" candidate who could have beaten Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Hardball anchor sneered, "That's why you're left with Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. They're not going to be elected president of the United States." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Speaking of Christie, Matthews pronounced, "When you make a list, one guy can really go on national TV against Hillary Clinton as a sort of the middle of the road Republican. The rest are far to the right. The. Republican Party, no matter what you think of it, rarely runs a right-winger." The journalist also implored a fired Christie aide to take the New Jersey governor down.

Speaking of Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Matthews lobbied:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: ...When Bridget Kelly shows up in the witness booth and she's under oath and she's been called a liar a number of times by the governor who is trying to destroy the jury pool by saying she's a liar to start with. If I were her, I would come back with everything I had against this guy.

On the January 13 Hardball, Matthews reversed himself in relation to the latest charge against Christie. In 2013, the host bashed "pissant' Rand Paul for daring to question the Sandy TV ads the governor made. On Monday, he called the ads a problem.

A transcript of the January 14 View exchange is below:

11:34

BARBARA WALTERS: So, what we want to talk about, first of all, is New Jersey governor Chris Christie who is so much in the news. And he has now apologized and said he was unaware that an aide closed the certain of the areas on the George Washington bridge. Right. So he's now having it all investigated. Do you believe him? Is this going to hurt his chances if he wants to run for president?

CHRIS MATTHEWS: If you are governor of New Jersey and the biggest role of northern New Jersey is all about the transportation. It's the bridge. It's the biggest bridge in the world for traffic. All those days, five delays, five days in a row and he never asked anybody or he didn't want to ask anybody. That's the dog that hasn't barked here. And my question is going to be answered when Bridget Kelly shows up in the witness booth and she's under oath and she's been called a liar a number of times by the governor who is trying to destroy the jury pool by saying she's a liar to start with. If I were her, I would come back with everything I had against this guy.

WALTERS: So, does this stop him from – Does his hurt his chances if he wants to run for president?

MATTHEWS: Well, you know, right now, Barbara you know this as well as I do. He's the only person challenging Hillary Clinton in the polls right now. They're very early, of course, but he's about two points ahead in the latest CNN poll. He's not going to be ahead anymore.

JENNY MCCARTHY: No.

MATTHEWS: Which means it's a scramble now. But look at the other guys. When you make a list, one guy can really go on national TV against Hillary Clinton as a sort of the middle of the road Republican. The rest are far to the right. The. Republican Party, no matter what you think of it, rarely runs a right-winger. They tend to, in the end, run McCain or Romney. In the end, they get practical because they really want that White House. They really want it.

WALTERS: So, who do you think? Name names.

MATTHEWS: That's why you're left with Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. They're not going to be elected president of the United States. So, now they got to go back to Jeb. Let's go back to the Bushes again. Let's try them one more time. And that's what everybody is talking about right now. Republicans are not crazy. They're not going to run a right-winger. The only guy that could have won -- I think Christie would have been a hell of a candidate before this mess.

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